one less reason to go back to the 323

Before I beat a hasty retreat to Venice, I lived a block from The Grove, which for those of you blissfully unaware, is a behemolithic shopping centRE smack dab of an area of LA that was already chockfull of shopping areas, just south of clogged and touristy Melrose Ave., east of clogged and boutiquey La Brea, west of clogged and super-consumery La Cienega, and right next door to one-of-the-last-remaining-interesting-bits-of-old-LA, the Farmer's Market.

I boycotted The Grove for months after it opened, grumbling mightily about parking and traffic and the unearthing of the once-leisurely pace of the Farmer's Market, until I was dragged kicking and screaming to a movie there and realized that those were probably (to that point) the nicest theaters I'd been to, and that maybe it wasn't so bad, and maybe getting cocktails and food there wasn't so bad after a movie, and maybe THE APPLE STORE REALLY DID KICK ASS. So I fell. It's one of the things I miss most about my old place, unfortunately.

No more. The Apple Store opens Friday on the 3rd St. Promenade on Friday at 6pm. I am a dork.